Frostbite
by StrawberryRabbit
Summary: The snow was stained. But it wasn't.  A story about rehabilitation and understanding; Ciel Phantomhive, the soul heir to his family's estate finds a nobody in the middle of the road.


Hey guys, this is my first fanfic in a very, very long time. I know the first chapter is short.  
I think I ought to give a brief overview on this story, you can't gleam much from the first chapter or summary.

It's about Ciel rehabilitating Alois, and what they go through together. There will be school elements as well as other such things. It will _not _be focused in school.

That being said, the chapters will probably be short, but there wll be quite a lot. I'm going to up the rating to M later, maybe.  
_please r+r! _

_

* * *

Chapter one: Bruises_

The snow was stained.

Red spots covering the soft white, some of the icy tarmac of the road as well; as if they had meant to be there. As if it were a normal coincidence.

But it wasn't.

* * *

"Stop the car," a young voice commanded, looking forward and into the rear view mirror, his single dark blue eye uncaring to anyone who didn't know him; his entire face filled with apathy. However, to those who did know him, it was clear from the slight crease in the boy's brow, and the tiny waver in his voice, that he was in fact worried.

Not for the red decorating the road.

But for the body in the middle.

Tailored soft leather boots, healed to increase the lanky boy's pitiful height, lightly crunched the snow beneath him as he moved from the edge of the road where the car was parked into the center, stopping to examine the red on the ground, having feared the worst until he actually got close enough to look.

"Strawberries..."

The boy who had left the car turned his head to the body he had originally thought was dead when he heard the odd sounding voice, huffing and pulling his blue and grey tartan print coat closer to his body. Still, there was something that stopped him from returning to the car and ordering for his guardian to drive over whoever was stupid enough to think the road was a good place for a nap.

"You know, they were his favorite... I was on my way to visit, but I didn't see the point..." The body stirred slightly, the white shirt covering the boy's arms going transparent from the water that had seeped into it, but he still remained on the ground, a hand beneath his head to keep the blond hair from getting too soaked.

He had wanted to get crushed, not frozen to death.

"What's the point in visiting a grave, when you can see the person?"

Ciel's frown increased as he stood above the boy, taking in his appearance completely. His lips were pale, and purple, cracked with bloody cuts in them- that was probably why he sounded muffled and almost hard to understand, even past the slightly rough accent. There were great, red, rings around his eyes which then darkened, signifying his tears and lack of sleep. As well as that, there was a rather lengthy cut down his cheek, the blood having scabbed over, leaving red cracks from the boy's movement.

_Too familiar._

But, still, the blond continued to ramble, seemingly ignoring the bluenet boy who was still leaning over him, taking in the bruises and cuts, and scars, that were visible through his snow soaked shirt, no doubt thinking about what else was concealed by the pants and boots he wore. "I didn't mean to drop the box... I just couldn't walk anymore. And getting hit by a car seemed fast..." There was bitterness in his voice, resentment.

Getting hit by a car? It was obvious that the boy had intended to die here. Perhaps that was why he was so uncaring about what had happened, and why the sorrowful glance his light blue (lighter than Ciel's, at least) eyes gave the strawberries was, somehow, more than Ciel thought the boy would ever feel for himself.

"A road further up has been closed. No one is supposed to be allowed on it. Shouldn't you have known that?" But the young boy knew that the blond on the ground mustn't have driven, at least not himself. But judging by the disturbed walking bath on the opposite end of the road, the boy had trudged through the heavy winter to get to... where? A cemetery? But there were none near. Ciel knew; he had searched long and hard for the nicest one.

There was nothing around for miles.

"Oh, I suppose that's why. I would prefer not to die of hypothermia. It doesn't seem that dramatic..." And just like that, the blond sat up. Of course, he was trembling, and sore. Aching, Ciel bet. Even his long, dark eyelashes were coated with the finest of frost, making him seem like some sort of poster boy for winter, with his wet blond hair clinging to his chilled, red cheeks and his equally red nose. Baffled, completely, the boy watched the enigmatic blond stand, brush himself off and cast a sorrowful glance at the strawberries scattered around them, each one still intact, but all dreadfully frost bitten. It was like that was all that mattered to him; the frostbitten strawberries, and not the fact that he was likely to pass out from the cold any moment.

"It was nice meeting you! Thank you for telling me about the roads." His smile was even intact, though Ciel was sure he saw the boy dart out a deep red tongue to collect some blood that had gathered on his lips from moving the cuts. He watched him, watched the boy slowly stumble toward the edge of the road, waiting patiently for...

_Thunk! _

"Sebastian, pick him up, put in him in the car and cancel that appointment, we're going to the hospital."

He only received a smirk and a mocking 'yes, my lord' in return as the man, who had eventually climbed out of the car, scooped up the underweight blond and layed him on the backseat, wrapping his tailored jacket around his torso to warm him up before he climbed back into the front seat.

Ciel stayed in the back, watching and monitoring the boy. Eventually, he simply pulled the white shirt from his body, even though the idea of actually… touching someone in _that_ sort of way made him cringe. This was to save his life, and he was morbidly curious to see all the marks littering his chest. Scratches, bruises… bites. It was clear what had happened to this lanky teenager, even more so that it was that the boy was ashamed of it somewhat.

So Ciel did him the decency of wrapping the coat around him and doing it up, hiding the marks from the world.

The two conscious people in the car stayed in silence, the driver knowing that, should he open his mouth to say something to the young boy in the back, he would loose his tongue. The boy also knew that the second he said anything about the situation, Sebastian would make a taunting comment about how soft he had gotten, favoring unforced human contact over a business meeting. Ciel would just sigh and ignore him. Maybe he would ask him to clean the bathrooms.

They did need a shine.


End file.
